Railway-brake.



J. B. GRAVELLE.

RAILWAY BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNB30, 191s.

Patented Sept. 1, 191 i- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON D. L,

i/Mmoom 1 an J. B. GRAVBLLE.

"RAILWAY BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE so, 1913.

Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

2 SHEETQ-"SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS (0. PHOTOJJTHO, WASHINGTON. D. F

JOHN B. GRAVELLE, 0F ASBURY PARK, N EW JERSEY.

RAILWAY-BRAKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed .Tune 30, 1913. Serial No. 776,644.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN B. GRAVELLE, citizen of the United States, residing atAsbury Park, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Brakes, of which the'following is a specification. 7

This invention relates to emergency brakes for railway cars, and has as its object to provide an emergency brake which may be readily and quickly applied by the engineer and which will act to. bring the train of cars almost instantly to a standstill. x 7

Another aim of the invention is 'to pro- Vide an emergency brakesystem which may be set throughout the entire length of the train by the opening of a single valve in the engine cab.

Another aim of the invention is to so construct the brake system that the brakes will not be liable to become accidentally set and which will at no time interfere with the ordinary air brake system.

The brake is of that type including a'shoc normally supported above the track rails but adapted to be lowered on to the rails in advance of the wheels when it is desired to apply the brake, and one feature of the invention resides in the provision of means for supplying sand'to the rails beneath the shoe or shoes when the brake is set so that the train may be more quickly brought to a standstill.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of means for limiting the movement of the shoes to position beneath the wheels of the car and for cushioning the,

- y from the tread of the rail.

shock incidentto the settingof the shoes.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1:

is a view in side elevation of a railway car equipped with the brake embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view on a large scale, illustrating only a portion of the length of the car. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig.- 2 but" illustrating one of the brake shoes set. Fig. 4 is a detail view partly in side elevation and partly in section, illustrating the means for releasing the shoes. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the shoes. Fig. 6 is averticallongiw tudinal sectional view therethrough. Fig. 7 1s a vertical transverse sectlonal view.

Corresponding and like parts are referred indicated in general by the numeral 1. and" the trucks are indicated. by the numeral 2 Patented Sept. 1, 1914...

and are supported upon the usual wheels 8.

The treads ofthe wheels 8 are of the ordinary form and the rails 41: are of the ordinarytype. v

The brake shoe is 'clearlyillustratedin Figs. 5, 6 and 7 of the drawings, and it will be understood that one of these shoes is to be provided for each truck at each side thereof, and each shoe being located in advance of the corresponding forward wheel of the respective truck. The shoes are preferably cast and each includes a body portion indicated by the numeral 6 and decreased in thickness in the direction of its end which enters between the wheels and the rails, as clearly shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, and as indicated by the numeral 7. The body portion 6 of each shoe is struck up longitudinally medially as at 8 from a point adjacent the other end of the shoe to a point approximately midway between the ends .of the shoe. In striking up the shoe in the manner stated, a channel 9 is formed extending longitudinally medially of the under side of the said body portion 6. This channel is gradually decreased in depth toward the middle of the shoe so that sand supplied to the channel at its major end will be packed beneath the shoe and will not be liable to be scattered about or jarred off Q As before stated, means is provided for advance of the forward wheels of the truck, and said means includes a hanger rod 10 which at its upper end is pivotally connected as at 11 to the under-frame of the car and which at its lower end is bent to formha hook 12 .fitted through a relatively small opening 13 formed in the body portion of theshoe vadjacent its tapered end 7. The rod 10 is preferably of resilient rod matesupporting the shoe above the rails and in rial and while it will securely support this I end of the shoe when the shoe is in normal position, it is not suiihciently rigid and strong to prevent the proper placing of the shoe beneath the wheels, and in fact, upon i chain is adaptedto be wound, andin fact,

is normally wound upon a drum 18 also mounted upon the under-frame of 'the car,

' 'apparent that when it is desired to apply all the brakes air under pressure is permitted to In order that this drum may be rotated td *windup the chain 17, there is provided a crank handle 19 fitted upon one end of the shaft for the drum.' At one end the drum'i' is provided'with a ratchet head 20 with which is normallyengaged a finger 21 of a rocking pawl mounted as at 22, upon the,

under-frame of the car. A spring 23 is ar-? ranged to bear against the finger 21 and serves to normally hold the finger in en-'; gagement with theteeth of the ratchet 20.; The other arm of the rocking pawl is indi-g cated by the numeral 24: and mounted upon? the under-frame adjacent'the Slldtlllh 24.,

is a small cylinder 25- in which is arranged;

1 which may lead from any suitable source of ton 26 will be so moved as to swing the armi a plunger 26. The plunger 26 has a stem; 27 secured through the arm 2% and the base; of the cylinder is provided with a com-; pressed-air port 28 supplied by a pipe 29 air supply. The pipe 29 or the sections com-Q prising the same extends the entire length}, of each car and may be coupled up through-f out the entire train so that all of the brakes may be set. The passage of air through the; pipe 29 is intended to be governed by a1; valve in the engine cab, which valve may be; independent of the engineers valve, or the; engineers valve may be provided with an} extra port to adapt it for the connection;

thereto of the said pipe 29. In any event,} the opening of the valve in question, Willi admit air under pressure to the pipe and as; the air rushes into the cylinder 25 the pis-;

of the respective pawl in a direction to dis-; engage the finger 21 from the teeth of the} ratchet 20, which of course, will allow the; chain 17 to unwind from the drum 18 and j will permit the brake shoe to move rearwardly and downwardly until its tapered; entering end engages beneath the respective! forward" wheeljoi the truck. At this point, 'it may be stated that if it is desired anl I electro-magnet' may be employed in place of;

'thecylinder and plunger. n Y In order to lim it the movement of thel brake shoe to position beneath the wheels of;

the truck, a' chain 30 is connectedto the ring both wheels at once.

16 and to one end of a stem 31 mounted for sliding movement in a cylindrical casing 32. A spring 88-is arranged upon the stem and at one end-bears against the closed end 34k of the casing and at its other end bears against a collar 35 fixed upon the said stem. A relatively short length of chain 36 is connected to the other end of the stem and is secured to the under-frame of the car as indicated at37. v I

Fromthe drawings it will be observed that two sets 01 brake shoes are provided beneath each car so that the brakes may be applied with efficiency whether the car be drawn oneendorthe other end first. I

From the foregoing description, it'will be each pipe 29 and entering the respective cylinder c'ausesthe piston 26 to move in such a manner as to rock the pawl 22 thereby bringing its finger 22 out of engagement with the teeth oii the ratchet 20.- ately upon disengagement of the pawl from the ratchet, the chain 17 will unwind from the drum 18, thereby allowing the respective brake shoe 6-to move downwardly and rearwardly until its entering or tapering end 7 engages bene ath the respective wheel 3. The

movement of the train will,-oi' "course, after such engagement, result in'the passage of this wheel and thecorrespondingrear wheel lmmediof the truck on to the shoe, the shoe being'of such" a'length that itmay extend beneath As soon as 1 the shoe enters between the forward wheel and the rail, the strain imposed upon the hanger rod 10 will result in its ends 12 being momentarily straightened so as to f be pulled through the opening 13 to release the forward end of the shoe. As the wheels pass on to the shoe the slack in the chain 30 is, of

course, taken up and finally a pull will be exerted upon the stem 81 which pull, although sudden, will be cush ioned by the spring 33 until the strain is imposed upon the chain 86. V

As before stated, means is provided for supplying sand beneath the brake shoes and it has already been stated that each shoe'is provided Wltll a channel 9 on its under side by means of which sand maybe supplied.

To supply this channel, a pipe '38 is provided and is fitted at one end into the larger end of the channel 9 and at-its other end is in communication with a sand reservoir-4L0,

which is located at any convenient point within the car, although preferably upon 7 the floor thereof. The pipe 38 'is flexible and the normal bend in the pipeis such that a trap is formed, so to speak so; as to pre- *vent the leakage oii'the sand. As the shoe is lowered, however, the pipe will be straightened out, as clearly'shown in-Fig 3 of thedrawings, and will be inclined to such degree as to insure of the sand beingfed I of the drawings. At its other edge the body 6 is provided with an upstanding flange 42 which is designed to engage agalnst the wheel in the manner shown in Fig. 2 so as to prevent lateral displacement of the shoe body 6 upon the rail. It will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 5 that the flanges 41 and 42 are bent gradually away from each other at the entering end of the shoe, as at I?) and 44 respectively, so as to further insure of the proper setting of the shoe upon the rail. In a like manner the flange 4.1 at the opposite end of the shoe is slightly turned outwardly as indicated at45 so that it will not interfere with the switch tongues and frogs.

Having thus described the invention. what is claimed as new is:

1. In a railway brake, a shoe,.means supporting the shoe for movement to braking position, the shoe being provided with a sand passage opening at the braking face thereof, a sand reservoir, and a pipe leading from the reservoir to the sand passage for the shoe and arranged to conduct the sand to said passage upon movement of the shoe to bra-king position, the said pipe being flexible and being arranged when'the shoe is in inoperative position to sag to form a trap to provide the discharge of sand when the shoe is in such position.

2. In a railway brake of the class described, a shoe adapted to be applied between the rail and wheel, the said shoe being provided with a sand passage opening at its under braking face, said passage having an inlet end opening at the upper face of the shoe, a pipe fitted at the last mentioned end of the passage, a sand reservoir to which the pipe is connected, the reservoir, pipe and shoe being so relatively located that when the shoe is in inoperative position, the pipe will be sagged to cut off the supply of sand and when the shoe is in operative position will be approximately straight, whereby the sand will be supplied to the sand passage.

3. A shoe for a brake of the class described comprising a body portion provided at one of its lateral edges with an upstanding flange and at its other lateral edge with a depending flange, the flanges being arranged to engage respectively with a wheel and rail between which the shoe is adapted to be applied, the last mentioned flange being outturned at its ends.

t A shoe for a brake of the class described comprising a body portion provided at one of its lateral edges with an upstanding flange and at its other lateral edge with a depending 'flange, the flanges being arranged to engage respectively-with a wheel and rail between which the shoe is adapted to be applied, the first mentioned flange at the entering end of the shoe being outturned. I

5. A shoe for a brake of theclass described comprising a body portion provided at one of its lateral edges with an upstanding flange and at itsother lateral edgewith a depending flange, the flanges being arranged to engage respectively with a wheel and rail between which the shoe'is adapted to be applied, the first mentioned flange at its end at the entering end of the shoe being outturnecl and the second mentioned flange having its ends also outturned.

6. In a railway brake of the class described, a shoe adapted to be applied-between the rail and wheel, means for supporting the shoe for movement to such position, said means including a resilient hangerrod having a hooked lower end and the shoe be ing provided with an opening receiving the said end of the rod, the saidend of the rod due to its resiliency being adaptedto be pulled through said opening when the shoe is loweredto braking position, and means for limiting the movement of the shoe to such position.

7. In a railway brake of the class described, a shoe adapted to be applied between the rail and wheel, a swingingly mounted rod having detachable engagement with the shoe, a chain connected to one end of the shoe and passed about a winding drum, releasable means for normally locking the drum to hold. the said chain taut, a second chain attached to the intermediate portion of the first chain by one end and to a fixed support by the other, and a compression member fiXed in said second chain.

8. In a railway brake of the class de scribed, a shoe adapted to be applied between the railv and wheel, a swingingly mounted rod having detachable engagement with the shoe, a chain connected to one end of the shoe and passed about a winding drum, releasable means for normally locking the drum to hold the said chain taut, a fixed housing, a compression spring inthe housing, a stem slidable in the housing to compress the spring, a normally slack chain connected to the stem and to a fixed support, and a normally slack chain connected to the opposite end of the stem and to the first chain.

9. In a railway brake of the class described, a shoe adapted to be applied be tween the rail and wheel, a swingingly mounted rod having detachable engagement with the shoe, a chain connected to one end of the shoe and passed about a winding" drum, releasable means for normally locking the drum to hold the said chain taut, a fixed housing, a compression spring in the housing, a stem slidable in the housing to com- 1 in presence of two Witnesses. nected to the stem and to a fixed support and a normally slack chain connected to the opposite end of the stern and to the first chain, that chain connected to a fixed support and to the stem being shorter than the press the spring, a normally slack chain con- ,movement permitted to the stem by hconi- 10' pression of the spring.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature JOHN GRAVELLE. L 5.

WVitnesses: V

PETER F. Donn. RUTH B. Dom).

Copies 0'! thin patent may be obtained for fivecents each, by addressing the Commissioner of ratents, i Washington, I). G. 

